The state of invalid clicks in 2026: Global statistics, regional trends, and how to protect ad spent

Invalid clicks remain one of the most concerning issues plaguing the online advertising world in 2026.

Despite the best efforts in online advertising technology, automation, and optimization, a large percentage of paid traffic still comes from bots, script-driven sources, or other invalid traffic sources.

These fraudulent actions quietly drain online ad budgets. This article explores the state of invalid clicks in 2026, using verifiable industry statistics to quantify the scale of the problem.

What counts as an invalid click in 2026?

An invalid click is any paid ad click that does not reflect legitimate human intent. While random, accidental clicks still occur, the bulk of invalid traffic these days is driven by non-human or coordinated activity aimed at abusing advertising systems.

Common sources include bots, click farms, proxy networks, automated scripts, and other coordinated fraudulent attacks.

These systems are engineered to mimic the behavior of a real user; as such, it is often difficult to tell, without advanced detection, whether an invalid click is actually invalid.

The challenge for advertisers is that much of this invalid traffic is often counted in real time. Even as platforms later recognize some of that activity as invalid, campaign data has already been affected. That’s why early detection, not post-campaign cleanup, is now essential.

How widespread are invalid clicks globally in 2026?

Research in 2026 has confirmed the persistence of invalid clicks at massive levels in the online advertising industry.

This was followed by a global analysis stating that the difference between actual and estimated digital advertising expenditure indicates that around $63 billion was lost to invalid traffic in 2025, which accounted for 8.51%of all paid traffic.

This was identified from a detailed industry analysis as reported by Advanced Television.

Meanwhile, even single-digit click invalid rates would result in staggering losses if applied to the average global advertisement spend. It can result in detrimental effects on the return on advertising spend for performance-based advertisers.

Regional invalid click benchmarks: A global breakdown

Rather than focusing solely on the global average, the regional benchmark underscores just how serious the problem of invalid clicks is for the industry as a whole.

North America

In North America, independent click fraud measurements issued by Pixalate for Q1 2025 reflected that:

• 19% of PC clicks were invalid
• 9% of cellular web-browser clicks were invalid
• 22% of mobile in-app click-throughs were invalid

Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)

In the EMEA market for Q1 2025, Pixalate revealed the following:

• 24% Invalid Clicks on Desktop Web
• 12% Mobile web
• 14% on mobile app traffic

Latin America

Latin America registered some of the highest invalid click rates in the world:

• 29% of desktop web clicks were invalid.
• 13% of all mobile web clicks were invalid.
• 13% of mobile app clicks were invalid.

Asia Pacific (APAC)

Breaking down these numbers in the Asia-Pacific region, Pixalate’s Q1 2025 benchmarks showed the following:

• 36% invalid click-through rates on the desktop web
• 27% on Mobile Web
• 27% on mobile in-app traffic

Why bots continue to generate fake clicks in 2026

In 2026, the reason so many invalid clicks occur in ads is attributed to advancements in bot technology.

Presently, these new-age bots do not rely upon scripts that randomly emit clicks. These new-agebots mimic human behavior.

Botnets also exist that have compromised user devices, making them even harder to trace. This means that even basic means such as blocking and filtering are no longer adequate for detecting them.

This accounts for the persistence of invalid clicks and the difficulty advertisers encounter when explaining inconsistencies in advertising performance.

Why platform-level invalid click protection falls short

Even among large advertising platforms, it’s claimed that filters are used to remove invalid clicks.

The system, however, is not designed to protect advertisers. Detection is sometimes performed after the click, which means the ad still incurs the upfront click charge.

When credits are actually awarded, the advertising campaign data is already compromised. Platform-level detection also applies generalized thresholds, which may allow large volumes of invalid traffic to pass through if it does not trigger extreme anomalies.

For advertisers focused on performance and data accuracy, this reactive approach leaves a significant protection gap.

How ClickPatrol stops invalid traffic before it wastes budget

ClickPatrol is well-positioned to address the problems described above by offering solutions that stop invalid traffic at its source.

Rather than relying on back-end reporting, ClickPatrol analyzes click behavior in real time. It watches for the telltale signs of invalid activity: bot-generated traffic, scripted patterns, and duplicate clicks are caught and blocked before ever being allowed to impact campaign spending or performance data.

• ClickPatrol helps advertisers by filtering out invalid clicks before they are counted.
• Protect budgets from bot-driven waste
• Keep clean, trustworthy analytics
• Improve the results of automated optimization

Clean data as a competitive advantage

When invalid clicks are addressed at their source, advertisers can see clearly what matters most to performance.

Removing invalid clicks from the data gives advertisers a better, more real understanding of what drives performance.

Rather than making decisions based on inaccurate, often misleading data, teams will be able to base decisions on user behavior and organic growth.

This can be a game-changer in a highly competitive space because, rather than making decisions based on inaccurate data, advertisers will have complete clarity on what drives results.

While invalid clicks may never completely go away, a direct, source-level approach to real-time invalid click detection in 2026 and beyond will give advertisers a better advantage for staying ahead.

Protecting ad performance in a world of invalid traffic

The threat of invalid clicks persists as a pressing challenge for digital marketing performance in 2026, driven by the sophistication of bot-driven ad clicks.

The industry statistics validate the alarming impact of invalid traffic, which has continued to eat into marketing budgets, inflate data, and undermine optimization.

The industry’s performance can no longer be guaranteed by the measures platforms have put in place to stop the threat of invalid clicks, which need to be blocked in their tracks.

Take charge of your ad results. Start identifying and blocking invalid clicks at the source using ClickPatrol today.

Abisola

Meet Abisola! As the content manager at ClickPatrol, she’s the go-to expert on all things fake traffic. From bot clicks to ad fraud, Abisola knows how to spot, stop, and educate others about the sneaky tactics that inflate numbers but don’t bring real results.

View all posts by Abisola (Abisola)

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